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Archive of "Four screened as Aids clinic opens", The Straits Times, 26 April 1985
=Scan of article & page= =Editable text of article= Four screened as Aids clinic opens By STELLA DANKER THE Aids Screening Clinic at Middle Road Hospital started work yesterday and four men were screened for the disease. Dr K. V. Ratnam, the immunologist at the hospital, who discovered Singapore's first three cases of people with the Aids virus said yesterday that since the announcement of the three victims, more than 50 men had been to the hospital worried that they may have the virus. He said "Because of the publicity and education through the media in exposing the three cases, a lot more people have come forward and can now be diagnosed.” But he added that "a lot of them have a guilt complex more than anything else." (Photo: DR RATNAM: "more have come forward because of publicity") For example, one of the men who had been to the clinic had intercourse with a male homosexual about 10 years ago. The clinic would screen people (mainly from the high-risk groups) every Thursday from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm and follow up on those with Aids and counsel them. Dr Ratnam, who was speaking at the Rotary Club of Marina City luncheon, said that studies of cases in the United States had shown that between 60 and 70 per cent of people with the virus were "healthy carriers". About 10 to 90 per cent had non-clinical Aids and only 5 to 10 per cent would have the "fullblown symptoms which will show itself within two years." Of the three people who have the Aids virus in Singapore, Dr Ratnam said that two of them had non-clinical Aids and one was a healthy carrier. 'We cannot lock them up' But anyone with the virus, whether as a healthy carrier, non-clinical or clinical Aids victim, would be spreading it through sexual intercourse. He added: "We cannot lock them up. But what we can do is to advise them to use condoms if they want to have sex. Though it is still being studied whether using condoms would prevent the virus spreading, I think the chances are slim." They would also he advised not to donate blood. Dr Ratnam added: "Aids used to be known as the gay plague. It’s now no more so." Of the 7,886 cases of Aids reported in the US between June 1, 1980 and Jan 21 this year, 465 victims were not homosexuals, bisexuals, haemophiliacs, intravenous drug abusers or Haitian immigrants. The study showed that 66 per cent of the 465 victims had no identified risk. The others contracted the virus through heterosexual contact (13 per cent) and blood transfusion (21 per cent). In the US, Aids has been more or less linked with four "high risk groups". These are known as the "four Hs": homosexual men, heroin addicts (and other intravenous drug abusers) haemophiliacs and recent Haitian immigrants. Dr Ratnam said the Aids Screening Clinic would he collating data on the prevalence of the Aids virus in Singapore. How 465 people (not from ttie high-risk groups*) got Aids in the US *Homosexuals, intravenous drug abusers, haemophiliacs, Haitian immigrants Blood transfusion 21%, Sex 13%, Not known 66% These cases were reported in the US between June '80 and Jan '85 Health workers reassured over fear of infection By LIAK TENG KIAT Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON, Thurs. - Thousands of American health care workers deal with Aids victims daily and not one has shown evidence of infection even after being exposed to the victims’ blood and mucus, United States Health Secretary, Mrs Margaret Heckler, said yesterday. Referring to the international seminar on Aids held last week in Atlanta, Georgia, Mrs Heckler said many newspaper headlines had centred on the exponential increase in the number of Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) cases over the past four years. On a world-wide basis, only one case had been detected among medical workers and other factors may have been involved, she told a medical seminar here. Mrs Heckler further stressed that no more than one per cent of Aids cases diagnosed so far in the US had heterosexual contact as their main risk factor. Of the "remaining few" other victims who had got Aids through heterosexual contact, the evidence was that they had had a very large number of sexual partners, often prostitutes, she said. Mrs Heckler who said a year ago that a vaccine against Aids was only two years away, was less sanguine yesterday. Scientists had since concluded that development of the vaccine would be more difficult than they first thought, she said. High-risk groups At the same time she said there was also good news, and that was "the more we learn about Aids, the clearer It becomes that Aids is not easily transmitted to those outside the high risk groups". The high-risk groups include homosexual or bisexual men, intravenous drug users, haemophiliacs and recipients of Aids-infected blood transfusions. The US, she said, planned to work closely with the World Health Organisation to improve methods of detecting Aids worldwide. =See also= *Archive of "Three in S’pore found with Aids-linked virus", The Straits Times, 10 April 1985 *Archive of "Aids virus: Doctor who 'found it'", The Sunday Times, 14 April 1985 *Archive of "A chance to be ahead in medicine", The Singapore Monitor, 16 April 1985 *Archive of "Aids on ‘must report’ list", The Straits Times, 17 April 1985 *Archive of "Undergrads to be taught about Aids", The Straits Times, 21 April 1885 *Archive of "16 more may be carriers of Aids virus", The Straits Times, 30 April 1985 *Archive of "Aids doctor thanks mum", The Straits Times, 12 May 1985 *Archive of "Special lab to do Aids tests soon", The Straits Times, 18 May 1985 *Archive of "Man with Aids related virus in hospital", The Straits Times, 21 July 1985 *Archive of "Aids carrier leaves hospital", The Straits Times, 28 July 1985 *Archive of "Ministry steps up Aids drive", The Straits Times, 5 September 1985 *Archive of "Singapore ‘first in the world’ to have 100 % screening of donor blood", The Straits Times, 11 September 1985 *Archive of "S’pore-Stanford research tie-up bid", The Straits Times, 10 October 1985 *Archive of "Aids: 20,000 cleared", The Straits Times, 29 November 1985 *Archive of "200 turn up for first public medical convention", The Straits Times, 28 April 1986 *Archive of "Screening tests likely to uncover more Aids carriers", The Straits Times, 1 May 1986 *Archive of "100 people could be Aids carriers here: Expert", The Straits Times, 3 August 1986 *Archive of "Aids claims first victim here", The Straits Times, 11 April 1987 *Archive of "Fear of Aids pushes up condom sales", The Straits Times, 19 April 1987 *Archive of "Govt dental clinics phasing out boiling", The Straits Times, 1 October 1987 *Earliest cases of HIV/AIDS in Singapore *HIV/AIDS in Singapore's LGBT community *Paddy Chew *Avin Tan *Ajmal Khan *Calvin Tan *Adrian Tyler =References= *Stella Danker, "Four screened as Aids clinic opens", The Straits Times, 26 April 1985[]. =Acknowledgements= This article was archived by Roy Tan.